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John Wells (satirist)
John Campbell Wells (17 November 1936 – 11 January 1998) was an English actor, writer and satirist. Early life The son of a cleric, Wells was born in Ashford, Kent, in 1936. He was educated at Eastbourne College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. Career Wells started in cabaret at Oxford and began his television career as a writer on '' That Was The Week That Was'', the 1960s weekly satire show that launched the careers of David Frost and Millicent Martin, among others, and also appeared in the television programme '' Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'', as well as in '' The Secret Policeman's Other Ball''. Besides making cameo appearances in films such as '' Casino Royale'' (1967) and ''Rentadick'' (1972), television dramas like ''Casanova'' (1987), an episode of '' Lovejoy'' (1991) and comedy shows like '' Yes Minister'', he also wrote television scripts and screenplays, such as '' Princess Caraboo'' (1994). In 1971, with John Fortune, he published the comedy ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Media
Open Media is a British television production company, best known for the discussion series ''After Dark (TV series), After Dark'', described in the national press as "the most original programme on television". The company was founded in 1987 and has produced more than 400 hours of television for major UK broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV and Channel 4. It has made entertainment series and factual specials which have sold all over the world. It also produces communications and corporate media for some of Britain's most important businesses. Open Media programmes have been nominated for many awards by the Royal Television Society and the British Academy BAFTA. Two different Open Media productions were featured during the 25th anniversary of Channel 4 in autumn 2007: ''Secret Cabaret, The Secret Cabaret'' and ''After Dark (TV series), After Dark'' were shown again on More4 during the celebratory season. In 2009 the British Film Institute announced that Ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lovejoy
''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six series, was originally broadcast on BBC One, BBC1 between 10 January 1986 and 4 December 1994, though there was a five-year gap between the first and second series. It was adapted for television by Ian La Frenais. Overview The series concerns the adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia, and was filmed around Long Melford. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a "divvy", a person with almost unnatural powers of recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antiques from fakes or forgeries. Characters * Lovejoy, played by Ian McShane, a less than scrupulous, yet likeable rogue antique dealer * Eric Catchpole, played by Chris Jury (series 1–5; guest, series 6), Lovejoy's you ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Deedes
William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes, (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major daily newspaper, ''The Daily Telegraph''. Early life Deedes was born in Hampstead in 1913, the second child and only son of landowner Herbert William Deedes and his wife Melesina Gladys, daughter of Philip Francis Chenevix Trench. His younger sister Margaret Melesina married the 21st Baron FitzWalter. He was brought up in the family home of Saltwood Castle until it was sold in 1925. He was educated at Harrow until after his father, who had struggled to manage the family's wealth for years, suffered heavy financial losses from the Wall Street crash of 1929 which eradicated their remaining fortunes. Journalism Due to the lack of funds, Deedes was forced to leave school a year early and finish his exams with a tutor. After failing to get ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a Barristers in England and Wales, barrister. She was List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election, elected Member of Parliament for Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), Finc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Thatcher
Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1915 – 26 June 2003) was an English businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as the first female British prime minister from 1979 to 1990; thus, he became the first male prime ministerial spouse. Thatcher was granted the Thatcher baronetcy in 1990, the only baronetcy created since 1964, and remains the most recent non-royal to have been awarded a hereditary title. Early life Denis Thatcher was born on 10 May 1915 at 26 Southbrook Road, Lee, Lewisham, London, as the first child of New Zealand–born British businessman Thomas Herbert "Jack" Thatcher and Lilian Kathleen Bird. At age eight, Denis entered a preparatory school in Bognor Regis as a boarder, following which he attended the nonconformist public school Mill Hill School in north London. At school he excelled at cricket, being a left-handed batsman. Thatcher left Mill Hill School in 1933 and joined the family paint and preservatives business, Atlas Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Ingrams
Richard Reid Ingrams (born 19 August 1937) is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', and founding editor of ''The Oldie'' magazine. He left the latter job at the end of May 2014.Ben Quin"Richard Ingrams resigns as editor of the Oldie over dispute with publisher" ''The Guardian'', 31 May 2014 Early life and education Ingrams's parents, who had three other sons including the banker and opera impresario Leonard Ingrams, were Leonard St Clair Ingrams (1900–1953) an investment banker from a clergy family who worked as a government official in propaganda, economic warfare and the secret services during World War II, and Victoria, the daughter of Sir James Reid, private physician to Queen Victoria. Through his maternal grandmother and her ties to the Baring family, Ingrams is a direct descendant of the 19th-century prime minister Charles Grey. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dear Bill
The "Dear Bill" letters were a regular feature in the British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', purporting to be the private correspondence of Denis Thatcher, husband of the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. It was written by Richard Ingrams and John Wells (satirist), John Wells, and illustrated with sketches by George Worsley Adamson, George Adamson for the first five years, and subsequently by Brian Bagnall. The series took the form of fortnightly letters to "Bill" by his friend and golfing partner "Denis". The letters were split equally between reactionary grumblings about the state of the country and vituperative comments on contemporary politics, with regular passing references to the goings-on of a fictional collection of acquaintances and the consumption of a quite remarkable quantity of alcoholic beverage, "electric soup". "Bill", whilst never identified as such in the series, was often taken as being Denis Thatcher's close friend Bill Deedes; Deedes later title ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 to 1976, Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition twice from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1974, and a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 United Kingdom general election, 1945 to 1983 United Kingdom general election, 1983. Wilson is the only Labour leader to have formed administrations following four general elections. Born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, to a politically active lower middle-class family, Wilson studied a combined degree of philosophy, politics and economics at Jesus College, Oxford. He was later an Economic History lecturer at New College, Oxford, and a research fello ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mrs Wilson's Diary
Prime Minister parodies are a long-running feature of the British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', which have been included in the majority of issues since the magazine's inception. The parodies consist of one arch satirical personification of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the day, and use that personification to send up continuously that Prime Minister's personality and style of leadership, and the personalities and general features of his or her cabinet. Such are their popularity that the parodies usually find their way into mainstream culture far beyond simply being viewed as a joke within the pages of ''Private Eye'', and are subsequently mentioned often in other journalistic appraisals of the individual in question. List by prime minister Harold Wilson: Mrs. Wilson's Diary ''Mrs Wilson's Diary'' was the imaginary diary of Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife Mary, in the style of the BBC radio serial '' Mrs Dale's Diary''. Written primarily by John Wells with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism and Parody, lampooning of public figures. It is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups. ''Private Eye'' is Britain's best-selling current affairs news magazine, and such is its long-term popularity and impact that many of Recurring jokes in Private Eye, its recurring in-jokes have entered popular culture in the United Kingdom. The magazine bucks the trend of declining circulation for print media, having recorded its highest-ever circulation in 2016 of over 287,000 for that year's Christmas edition. It is privately owned and highly profitable. With a "deeply conservative resistance to change", it has resisted moves to online content or glossy format: it h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (miniseries)
''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1979 British seven-part spy drama by the BBC. John Irvin directed and Jonathan Powell produced this adaptation of John le Carré's novel '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (1974). The serial, which stars Alec Guinness, Alexander Knox, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell and Michael Aldridge, was shown in the United Kingdom from 10 September to 22 October 1979, and in the United States beginning on 29 September 1980. The US version was from the original seven episodes to fit into six episodes. The series, which received widespread acclaim, was followed by '' Smiley's People'' in 1982. Plot George Smiley, deputy to the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, has been forced into retirement in the wake of Operation Testify, a failed spy mission in Czechoslovakia. The Chief of the Circus, known only as Control, had sent veteran agent Jim Prideaux to meet a Czechoslovak general wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Melon For Ecstasy
''A Melon for Ecstasy'' is a 1971 novel written by John Fortune and John Wells. The title is claimed to derive from an Arabic and Turkish proverb, "''A woman for duty / A boy for pleasure / But a melon for ecstasy''." Plot summary Written in an epistolary Epistolary means "relating to an epistle or letter". It may refer to: * Epistolary (), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel, a novel written as a series of lette ... style, consisting of newspaper cuttings, letters, and extensive excerpts from the diary of its protagonist, the novel tells the story of Humphrey Mackevoy, a young man who achieves sexual satisfaction by boring holes in trees and penetrating them with his penis. Intercut with the story of how his passion leads him into confusion, shame and prison, but eventually into acceptance of, and almost pride in his peculiarity, are a series of comic sub-plots involving the local natural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
